Star Trek SCE an Engineer's Destiny
by iluion
Summary: This story continues the Starfleet corps of engineers books series and attempts to tell the tale of what happened to them during the Destiny book trilogy. In destiny the Borg decide that they've had enough of the federation and decide that it's time has come. During the trilogy and other books hints are given about what happened to the Da Vinci, this is my attempt to tell the story
1. Chapter 1: the Calm Before the Storm

An Engineer's Destiny 

Chapter 1: The Calm before the Storm

****

**USS Da Vinci  
Troyius Sector beta quadrant  
Stardate: 58103.1**

Sonya Gomez was walking the corridors of the ship, her ship as she had to keep reminding herself. Even with her long time commanding officer, and mentor; David Gold having retired almost a year earlier it still felt strange. However at the moment none of this seemed to matter, all she could think of was that one faithful day all those many years ago.

The day that started with her spilling a mug of hot chocolate on her captain's uniform, which at time she thought was the worst thing that could happen in her entire life. How wrong she was, by the end of that day eighteen of her fellow shipmates had died, sucked out in to space or worse; and the federation had made a new enemy; the Borg. And now if reports where to believed that enemy was on its way to deliver a last crippling blow, war was coming and she knew it.

It reminded Sonya of the old days on the USS Sentinel during the dominion war, she had hoped it would never come to that again. The federation at war, with the stakes being its very survival and maybe that of the entire quadrant. The main difference for her, between now and then was the fact that this time, she was the captain. The crew would look to her for leadership and guidance and she feared she was not up to the task. Sure, in the eight months after captain Gold's retirement the Da Vinci had seen some combat and it wasn't like she hadn't had her fair share of it before that but a war was different.

"Stop this." she accosted herself. "I cannot let them see me this way" she would have to get over it fast, as she was getting closer to her destination; the observation lounge.

Bart Faulwel was sitting in the Da Vinci's observation lounge which felt strangely crowded, usually reserved for the Corps of engineers team the room rarely had more than nine or ten people in it. However Gomez had called a full meeting including the senior staff as well as the Corps team. Sitting in the room were Anthony Shabalala the ships tactical officer, Conn officer lieutenant Songmin Wong, Chief medical officer doctor Sarjenka, Lieutenant Susan Haznedl, and Chief engineer Steven Bennet. Along with the usual suspects lieutenant commander Mor glasch Tev second in command of the corps team under Captain Gomez, Commander Domenica Corsi first officer and chief of security for both the ship and the team, the Nasat structural systems specialist P8 "Patty" blue, the singular Bynar computer specialist Soloman, and the new Bolian tactical systems specialist Chell.

With all these great tactical and engineering minds in the room Bart couldn't help but wonder why he was here, the situation didn't seem to call for a lowly linguistic expert and cryptologist. He looked over to the team's cultural specialist Carol Abramowitz Sitting awkwardly between Shabalala and Tev probably feeling as useless as he was. The mood was dim, and no one seemed in the mood to talk, Bart had attempted to alleviate the tension by a joke or two but no one was in the mood. Everyone knew what was going on in the rest of the federation for the last few weeks and everyone feared the worst. The Borg where coming, small incursions had been happening all over the federation and beyond and no one knew what was going on, at least so far no one knew. But Bart had been manning the communications console on the bridge when a level ten communique came in from Starfleet command, and he could guess what this meeting was about. Bart was disturbed from his musings when Sonya walked in to the room, looking like she had aged ten years in the last half an hour.

"Good evening everyone," she started right after coming in not even taking the time to get to her seat.

"I'll get straight to the point, we all know what has been happening all around the federation. The Borg have come, the biggest invasion we've seen so far, and I'm afraid that I have to tell you that it is just the beginning". Sonya paused, looking around the room to give people a chance to digest what she just said.

"Recent intelligence recovered by the USS Enterprise and Aventine indicate that more is coming, all indications are a full scale invasion of the federation and the alpha and beta quadrants itself." She rushed through that last bit, wanting to get it out before she lost her nerve.

The room was quiet for a minute after that, everyone considering the weight of this news. It was Chell of all people who broke the silence, muttering

"How is this even possible" more to himself than anyone else.

"What was that?" asked Tev, "speak up if you have anything to say specialist." Tev's aggressive tone didn't sit well with Sonya even after all these years, especially to the new and insecure tactical system specialist.

"Well I'm just wondering how they are getting here in such force commander." Chell answered. "We destroyed the Borg's Transwarp network when voyager came home years ago, and at their standard transwarp speeds it would take months for them to get here. We should have ample warning, but they just seem to show up out of the blue."

"That is an excellent question." Sonya responded, not surprised that Chell was the one to bring this up after all he was a part of the voyager crew that destroyed the network.

"It's a question Starfleet has tried to answer from the very start of this invasion, but now we think we might have the answer. The details are still a bit fuzzy. Either because Captain Picard does not know or he is reluctant to share the details through subspace. It seems that the Borg have found the remnants of an ancient subspace corridor network terminating in the Azure nebula." Sonya continued.

"Starfleet is organizing a fleet there to form a blockade, and apparently president Baco is trying to convince every warp capable species we know of to help with the blockade, from the Klingons to the Tzenketh. However we might have to face the fact that more likely than not anything they will do will only delay the inevitable." Sonya paused, once more allowing her crew time to come to terms with her grave message.

"Of course from this distance there's no chance for us to reach the Azure Nebula in time to be of any use. So Starfleet has ordered all remaining starships to protect federation and allied worlds to the best of their abilities, and we've been assigned to Troyius. I trust we are already on our way mister Wong?" Sonya asked looking towards the conn officer.

"Yes captain, I plotted a course and engaged just before heading here, maximum warp per your orders, we should be there in about six hours" Wong responded.

"Good, this is it people the fight for our very existence" Sonya said solemnly we might not be in a position to save the federation, for that we will have to trust others but we can sure as hell save this world. I am going to give you two hours to digest this information, there will be a ship wide announcements in thirty minutes, and I trust you will help your subordinates do the same.

Seeing that they were about to be dismissed, almost everyone started to speak at once. Asking questions trying to get more information out of their captain.

"Quiet everyone!" Corsi called them to order.

"Thank you commander" Sonya responded. " I know you must have many questions, all of you but I've told you all I know, Data is still coming in and I'll have more to share with you in two hours.

"So we are just expected to sit on our hands till then?" Shabalala countered.

"You can't expect us to do nothing" Wong agreed.

"Alright, alright if you want to make yourself useful try and think of ways we can improve our ship's chances against the Borg because as I am sure we all know as it stands the odds at us defeating even a single cube are pretty much non existent. Sonya answered "Now I need to get back in touch with Starfleet, get too it everyone dismissed."

**New York City **

**Earth**

**Stardate: 58103.6**

David Gold was standing at the door to his family's home, he had been locked to the viewer's newscast for the last few days, slowly watching the situation unfold wishing he could do something. He felt like he needed to do something, anything. During his decades of service to Starfleet, he had protected the federation from innumerable foes and dangers. From the Tzenketh to the Cardassians, the Klingons and the dominion. However now he felt helpless, as a civilian there was not much he could do. Of course he didn't have the access to information now that he used to have. However everyone in the federation knew there was something going on, and now he was standing on the doorstep to his own house, debating whether he should go to San Francisco and see if he could help out.

He would have left already were it not for his wife Rachel. He promised her his days of gallivanting around the galaxy where over. Of course protecting the federation from the current thread was different, but he doubted Rachel would see it that way. During all his years in Starfleet she had patiently waited for him to come home, having only a part-time husband and father of her children. He had not even mentioned it to her yet but he was sure she knew, she was currently at the synagogue performing her duties as the local rabbi and he almost felt like he was sneaking out.

"I can't do it," he said out loud, "not just yet anyway." and he walked back closing the door behind him.


	2. Chapter 2: the Battle for Starbase 234

Chapter 2: The Battle of Starbase 234

_Dearest Bart,_

_I haven't done this in way to long but with the federation facing its greatest  
challenge I thought it was time I said some things. I love you Bart, I know  
I've made it difficult for you these last few years but I do love you. I always  
have from the moment I first met you all those years ago on Starbase 92._

_I know that I have pushed you, maybe I pushed you to far, know that it is  
only because I love you and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I  
was afraid I was losing you Bart, and I could never have lived with myself for  
losing you without trying, I hope you can understand that. I'm about to go in  
to a battle I fear we cannot win. The Tolkien has been assigned to protect  
Starbase 234 from the Borg at all cost, a tactical cube is on its way here and  
I do not have much longer. _

_So what do you say if the two of us make it out of this mess alive shall we give  
it another try? And if not, well my live has had meaning just for knowing you Bart,  
I love you and wish you all the best _

_Lovingly yours,_

_Antony_

**USS J.R.R. Tolkien  
Starbase 234  
Stardate: 58104.8**

Commander Anthony mark was sitting in the center seat of the Tolkien, awaiting the return of her captain, who was in a last minute tactical briefing with Admiral Paris on Starbase 234. He had just finished composing a letter to his former longtime partner Bart Faulwel, he hoped that Bart could forgive him for typing it out rather than writing it by hand, he just didn't have the time to do it properly.

Now Anthony was going over ship's readiness reports to see if anything could be done to improve their chances, he was pleasantly surprised to see that the entire crew was performing at peek proficiency. Engineering had managed to boost the warp core to produce power to well over 130% of rated maximum. Tactical had used that power to boost the weapons, and shields another 50%. Sickbay had reported battle ready thirty minutes ahead of schedule and damage control teams where standing by, if today was to be their last day it was not because of lack of trying.

As a Steamrunner class starship the Tolkien was formidable in battle, being part of the same design family as the defiant class they were actually build with the Borg in mind, and it was not like the Starbase didn't possess any weaponry of its own. However very few ships had faced the Borg and survived, the Borg invasion had already cost the federation many ships and bases. Some managed to fight of the Borg, if at heavy costs many requiring the ultimate sacrifice, however many more ships had failed.

.

So too in this case, the cube heading towards Starbase 234 had already been faced in battle, having destroyed the colony of Creta IV and the three starships tasked with the defense of the colony. Anthony just hoped that the cube was already significantly damaged by this engagement and that they could use that to their advantage.

Anthony was disturbed from his reports by the turbolift doors opening behind him, and ensign Parsons at ops quite literally shouting "Captain on the bridge." Captain Shor walked in, Anthony quickly vacated his seat to take the one on the left of the captain. He handed Shor the pad with the readiness reports, adding simply.

"The ship is ready sir." The Andorian captain nodded curtly before taking his seat, and whispered

"Did you manage to send your letter to Bart?"

"yes sir, managed to send it just before the ordered radio silence" Anthony replied feeling slightly awkward at the personal question, then again Shor wasn't the typical by the book captain and it was on his advice that he had send the letter in the first place.

"Good, good" the captain continued out loud.

"Well then let's do this, Parsons give me ship wide audio I want to address the crew"

"Yes sir, the ship hears you captain" came the quick reply from OPS.

"Crew of the J.R.R. Tolkien, this is the captain, I need not tell you the gravity of the situation, you all know what is going on all over the federation. The Borg are coming and they seem to be intent on destroying our way of life. We will not let this happen, the day may come when the federation will crumble to dust and will be no more than a memory I promise you it will not be today. As long as we have a ship to fight with we shall not let them pass, we are Starfleet we are the federation and we have faced many threats in the past and have survived, we shall do so once more, red alert all crew to battle stations, that's all."

"Nice speech" Anthony said leaning in towards the captain, "I think it's just what they needed"

"Indeed, to bad it's all lies, but if I can give them some hope I will even if it's a false one" Shor whispered. "I just hope that our deaths shall not be in vein"

"It will sir, it will I'm sure of it, even if it's just to show those Borg that we will never stop resisting however futile they might think it to be. "Anthony responded, then out loud he called

"ETA for Borg contact?"

"Our best estimate says fifteen minutes" ensign Parson replied.

"Ship status report?" asked Captain Shor.

"All decks reported at battle stations, shields up and at optimum capacity, weapons are powered and standing by" Lieutenant V'lars responded calmly.

"Good," the captain replied. "Now comes the hardest part, the waiting."

Fifteen minutes later a massive Borg tactical cube dropped out of transwarp at the edge of the system. It was scarred with pits and crevices running throughout its outer hull, one of its massive armour plates being completely missing. Clear signs from the battle at Creta IV, even as badly damaged as it was it was still fully functional and a formidable opponent for any Starfleet task force let alone just three ships and a starbase. The damage was already starting to regenerate, and the ship would be back to fully operational in a few hours, if it wasn't stopped before then.

The cube wasted no time and headed into the system towards the starbase the moment it dropped out of transwarp seeming not to even notice the three Starships there waiting for it. It didn't even broadcast the Borg's standard message. This cube was on a mission, not to assimilate but to destroy the starbase and everyone with it. It had no will of its own the only thing spurring it on was the constant voice of the collective and the only objective right now was the destruction of the federation.

The bridge on the Tolkien was quiet, everything that should be said had been said and now as the captain had said there was only the wait. Until the call came from OPS right on schedule

"Borg cube has entered the system, ETA to starbase three minutes"

"On screen" responded Anthony.

Parson quickly complied showing the cube to the entire bridge crew.

"It seems Creta IV didn't fall without a fight, look at all that damage" Shor said studying the image intently.

"I need to see more, full analysis"

"I've already initiated a full scan" answered the ever proactive and logical V'lars. "Results should come in shortly."

"Well done lieutenant, keep me appraised, Shor to Opaka and Forrest, fall in to defensive formation alpha four and await further orders.

"Tactical assessment is ready captain, the cube has received significant damage during its earlier engagement, shields are at approximately 74.01 percent of optimal, and armour plating has been penetrated and in places completely removed. Most of the damage is centralised on what is the rear flank of the cube to our current perspective and they seem to be trying to protect that flank. My advice would be to focus our fire there whenever possible."

"Thank you V'lars, concise as always" the captain answered with a slight chuckle.

"The cube will enter weapon range of the Starbase in approximately 40 seconds" came a call from OPS.

"Shor to the fleet, this is it. Engage the cube formation Delta three, keep moving and focus on the aft flank it's vulnerable, and keep moving to avoid being hit"

The three Starships sped of away from the starbase in a close triangle formation, moving as if they were one ship. Closing the distance between them and the cube in mere seconds. They swooped around the cube starting strafing runs covering the rear flank. Their amber coloured phaser beams and bolts just seemed to glance over the cube's shields without doing much damage. The bright blue flares of the quantum torpedoes didn't seem to fare much better.

Then the behemoth weaponry of the Starbase came in to play, massive lances of amber energy shooting out at the cube, coupled with a rain of torpedoes and phaser cannon fire. Unfortunately the cube was protecting its vulnerable side from the starbase and the massive weaponry barely seemed to slow the cube down.

That was when the cube opened fire, focusing its attention all but completely on the starbase, ignoring the Starships as a charging elephant would ignore flies. A rain of green energy bolts and torpedoes launching from all its weapon ports, hitting the Starbase shields which flared up bright blue and seemed to buckle under the strain.

"Damn the cube is ignoring us, we need to distract it from the starbase, or it won't last long," Shor said "Forrest get between the cube and the starbase, give it something else to shoot at. But for Uzaveh's sake try not to get in the Starbase's firing solution, and keep moving."

"Understood Tolkien"

The Akira class ship swooped out of the formation, heading straight for the starbase to join its side, firing phasers as it went.

"V'lars, cube status" ordered Anthony.

"Front shield facing is at 89.31 percent and falling slowly, aft quarters at 56.46% and dropping, some of our torpedoes are starting to make an impact soon the hull but it is still minimal."

"Damn keep up the pressure we need to get those shields down, how's the starbase doing?"

"Starbase shields are at 25% and dropping, she can't take much more of this commander" responded Parson.

"Attack pattern omega V, full torpedo and cannon spread, give it all we have" ordered Shor. "We need to get its attention the starbase needs time to recover its shields."

Tolkien and Opaka swept around for another run, every weapon port firing a massive spread of energy and torpedo's towards the cubes weakened flank. The damage to the cube itself was minimum, however it did get the cubes attention. Green tractor beams flashed on snatching both vessels stopping them in their tracks. The ships energy started to drain away and the ships were started to be torn apart by the strain.

"The Borg have trapped us in a tractor beam captain."

"You think so V'lars," Shor responded sarcastically. "What makes you think that, see if you can break us free."

"I will attempt to do so"

"We could try to send a Nadion stream through the tractor beam, it might fry the emitters"

"Good idea Anthony, you heard the commander make it so Parsons."

"Working on it" Parsons responded. "Captain, I'm working on it but the Opaka she, well….

"Dear Uzaveh no, put her on screen" ordered Shor.

The Defiant class Starship appeared on screen, trapped in a tractor beam just like they were, it was trying it's best to escape but it was to no avail. The ship was starting to break up and already some of the hull plating had been torn off by the strain. As the Tolkien's bridge crew looked on they saw the ship falling apart, first they lost a nacelle, and then their deflector. Until all there was left where pieces flying in space.

For an instance Anthony dared to hope that those sections might survive with some crewmen in them. However then the uncontrolled matter anti matter reaction of the warp core took hold. A white flash washed out the view screen and by the time the filters managed to compensate the Opaka was gone, leaving nothing but a cloud of debris.

"Viewer ahead," Shor ordered being the first to recover. "Where's my Nadion stream?"

"Almost their captain…" responded ensign Parsons who had managed to keep focused on her work.

"Right their, ready and awaiting your order."

"What are you waiting for, make it so"

Tolkien's deflector glowed bright blue and send a blue pulse that travelled straight up the tractor beam towards the deflector. Blue electrical energy, sparked around the emitter frying it completely, and the tractor beam flashed out of existence. The Tolkien sped away to get out of harm's way and just when they thought they were save, the cube fired a torpedo that found his mark. The ship looked like it was hit by a sledgehammer, flying away in an uncontrolled spin leaking bright blue warp plasma like a sieve.

When Anthony regained consciousness he found himself lying crumpled up below the malfunctioning view screen.

"Seatbelts, when will they give us some damn seatbelts," he thought out loud. Looking around the bridge trying to see through the smoke he saw the con officer slumped over his console, it looked like he had smashed his head on it leaving a crack in the panel, and probably his skull as well. Further ahead where Parsons and V'lars who seemed to be in a similar state to himself slowly standing up and looking around. Anthony continued searching for the one person he wanted to see more than anyone, and then he found him. Flung towards the door to his ready room was captain Shor, his head covered in blue blood and not yet conscious. Realising that at the moment he was the captain he tugged his uniform straight and called out.

"V'lars report! Parsons check on the captain"

"Yes sir," they responded in almost perfect unison, V'lars immediately started trying to coax some information out of his console, and Parsons headed towards the captain. Anthony moved towards the conn officer, whose name he was ashamed to admit, escaped him at the moment. He was new addition to the ship straight from the academy. He felt his neck for a pulse.

"Damn" it was as he feared, the kid was dead. No time for proper honours he pushed the con officer of his seat, taking it for himself and running a diagnostic. The helm was sluggish but responding. That's when V'lars reported in.

"Commander I'm ready to deliver my report"

"Than what are you waiting for, come out with it man"

"My apologies sir, we've been flung away from the main battle zone, the ship itself has sustained heavy damage, engineering has been forced to eject the warp core to prevent a breach, we are running on axillary power.. Aft weapons are of line and front are functioning at 75.56%. Casualty reports are coming in throughout the ship, early estimates are that 46% of the crew are walking wounded. Fatalities are too early to say, however it's significant.

"What about the battle?"

"The starbase and the cube are not reading on sensors, this might be because they're too far away for our damaged sensors or…"

"Yeah, I get it see if you can get some replacement bridge crew up here, I'm plotting a course back we have a duty to defend the base"

"Yes sir, I've also been attempting to repair the view screen, this should do it. The view screen popped on, still very grainy but at least usable.

"Good job, Parsons how's the captain?" Anthony said looking towards Parsons, then he saw her she looked frozen, face ashen almost in shock.

"Parsons he called out snap out of it, we need you now" This seemed to shake her out of it,

"He's dead commander he just died within my arms I, I guess that means you're captain now."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, get back to your station ensign we need you."

"Aye sir." She responded walking back to her station at OPS. The replacement crew started arriving but there was no CONN officer so Anthony decided to stay where he was, he didn't quite feel like taking Shor's seat anyway.

"Plotting a course back to the Starbase, we are not done yet."

Anthony flew straight back to the battle zone, eyes fixed to the viewer trying to discern the situation trough the grainy haze. Slowly the picture became clear the starbase was starting to succumb to the strain, great portions of it had already disappeared and it was no longer returning fire. The Forrest was still intact though it was giving its best but the cube still paid her little attention. Energy beams lanced out from the cube literally carving up the starbase, it was a lost cause but they were tasked with defending it and there were still the people on the planet below to worry about.

Anthony send out a hail "Tolkien to Forrest, please come in"  
"Forrest here Tolkien, thank god we were afraid we lost you there Tolkien, where's captain Shor?"

"The captain is no longer with us, this is Commander Anthony Mark I've taken over command"

"Understood commander, fall in formation with The Forrest, if you can we still have a cube to deal with."

"Understood Forrest"

The two ships closed together and resumed their strafing runs, continuously firing on the Borg's damaged portions. Every run just seemed glance over the cube with little to no damage, and the starbase could no longer take the strain it was starting to fall apart. The Forrest and Tolkien swooped by it for another charge, and the cube for a second concentrated its fire on the Forrest, hitting it straight in the saucer sending it cartwheeling towards the starbase. It rammed the starbase straight on right in the lower sections, where Mark knew the power core to be. For a second it seemed that that would be it, but then a bright flash washed out everything in the area and when the view screen's filters managed to compensate starbase, and the Forrest were gone.

The Tolkien was now out all on its own, leaving it without anything to defend or any back up. He wondered if he couldn't just try and escape, there seemed so little they could do, but with the without a warp core where could they go? Then he remembered that this cube had already taken out a colony world and now a starbase, with the Borg's incredible regenerative abilities there was no knowing what else the cube could do before it was stopped, all of this led to his decision.

He hit the com channel on his console and addressed the entire crew. "This is Commander Mark to all hands, you have one minute to abandon ship, repeat one minute to abandon ship."

"Commander we will need at least five minutes for a full evacuation, and sickbay reports…"

"We don't have the time V'lars" Anthony interceded. "If they haven't evacuated by then the Borg will turn their attention back to us, no get yourself in to an escape pod."

"I will respectfully decline Commander" V'lars responded.

"Do you realise what I'm about to do, I'm planning to ram this ship in to the cube." Anthony responded agitatedly.

"Yes sir" V'lars responded calmly. "Illogical though it might seem I intend to stay with you."

"Have it your way, parsons get to the pod."

"I will stay too Commander" Parsons responded less calmly but no less determined. "If we fail the pods will be taken out by the Borg, I'd rather stay here to see it through"

"Al right have it your way." Anthony said, looking at the countdown on his console reaching zero. "Time's up anyway." He looked around the bridge and the few crewmen that decided to remain behind.

"It's been an honour everyone" and he executed the course he plotted, taking him straight to the most badly damaged section of the cube. The last thing that went through his mind before darkness took him was.

"I guess we won't get the chance Bart."


	3. Chapter 3: Bearers of Bad News

Chapter 3: Bearers of Bad News

_My dearest Anthony,_

_Just a short note to say I've been an idiot, the two of us has something  
great going and I ruined it by not taking it, by not taking you seriously.  
Now with the federation facing a threat that they might not overcome,  
I thought it was time to come clean._

_I could blame a great multitude for my commitment issues, from my  
childhood in general too the premature death of my dear sister. However  
that would just be me looking for excuses, the truth is Anthony I was scared.  
Scared that change would drive us apart eventually and fear that I couldn't  
be the husband that you needed. I hate the wedge that this has driven  
between us and I hope you can forgive me. The Da Vinci is heading straight  
towards a confrontation with the Borg, and I have to assume the Tolkien is  
too. The federation and indeed the quadrant is facing a fight for their very  
existence a fight it might very well lose._

_Whatever happens the quadrant will never be the same, and I just wanted to  
tell you that I love you. If we are both still around in a week I just want you to  
know that I think I'm ready, if you'll have me of course._

_Yours lovingly,_

_Bart _

**USS Da Vinci  
Troyius Sector beta quadrant  
Stardate: 58104.8**

Bart sat up from his desk, having just finished writing his first letter to Anthony in years. Technically that wasn't true, he had continued his tradition of writing letters to his estranged former partner, however this was the first one that he intended to send. Bart had missed Anthony more than he was willing to admit, and with the federation seemingly about to come to an end he thought it was time to clear the air. "I just hope you can forgive me Anthony" he said to himself before continuing his work on Borg encryption.

Sonya was on her way to deliver some bad news, she had considered putting it of till the shipboard announcement but she felt she needed to do this first, in a way if she could handle this she might be able to handle informing the rest of the crew too. She rounded the corner to Bart and Chell's quarters and hit the door chime.

"Come in" came Bart's tired but clear voice. The sound almost drove Sonya to tears, Bart was one of her closest friends but she was afraid that after she told him what she had to tell him he would never be the same again. She stepped in to the cramped quarters causing Bart to look up from his work. "Typical" she thought "borg encryption, no one had been able to break it before but that wasn't going to stop Bart from trying."

"Hello captain" Bart responded, almost jovially. "What brings you here?"

"I need to talk to you about something Bart, have you heard of Anthony lately?" She responded, chastising herself for her obvious delay tactic. "Just tell him" she thought "better get it over with fast"

Bart looked confused, and grabbed a piece of paper lying on his desk. "Heard from him no, not really, I did just finished writing a letter to him though."

Those words stopped Sonya in her tracks, a look of shock on her face. "I, I she mumbled"

This scared Bart, Sonya was rarely at a loss for words. "What is it Sonya?" he asked for a minute dropping the formal platitudes.

The lack of formality awoke Sonya, "I need to tell you something Bart." She responded when she regained her voice. "I've just received word from Starfleet, we've lost contact with starbase 234, the base and the ships defending it are presumed lost with all hands."

"That's horrible" Bart responded slightly confused. "But I don't see how…"

"Bart" she said, interrupting him "The Tolkien was assigned to protect starbase 234"

Bart felt his heart break, his face turned ashen and he started to feel sick. "He's gone," he muttered. "I was too late"

"Bart, you don't know that there still might be a chance, he could have made it too an escape pod, he could have…"

"Stop it captain, the federation is falling apart and a lot more people will die, I have no right to."

Sonya was taken aback at his response, she didn't know what she expected but it wasn't this. "Of course you have the right Bart, it doesn't matter what's happening around the federation; you have a right to mourn him."

"I will, but you have better things to do then comfort me!"

Taken aback by this response, Sonya walked back towards the exit, the last thing she hear before the door closed was Bart's subdued sobbing. Sonya headed straight for her ready room, Bart was right there was something she should do.

Chell was sitting alone in the Da Vinci's tiny mess hall, thinking about his place there. After voyager's return he had little hope to find a new posting in Starfleet, and he was very surprised that in fact after just three months someone at Starfleet contacted him. A captain had handpicked him, Chell someone in the fleet wanted him he had to admit it felt good. It wasn't just any posting either, the SCE might not be the most glamorous branch of Starfleet but Chell had always been impressed by their work. He just wished he was fitting in better.

It wasn't like anyone was particularly rude or mean to him, except Tev of course. It was just that this crew, like the voyager crew was very tight and had served with each other for years, this made it hard for him to carve a niche for himself. The mess hall doors opened disturbing Chell from his thoughts, and P8 blue entered, his fellow SCE team member. To his surprise instead of taking one of the many empty tables she walked straight to his table.

"Mind if I join you specialist" she asked.

"Yeah sure, special… specialist blue." Chell stuttered in response, social interactions had never been his strong suit.

"Call me Patty, everyone does." She responded, while making a tinkling noise that somehow made her sound amused.

"Alright Patty, please call me Chell, everyone used to do that too." The doors opened once more, and more of the SCE team came in, Soloman, and Abramowitz walked straight to Chell and Patty, not even bothering to ask if they could take a seat. Chell was starting to feel a little uncomfortable but before he or anyone else could comment on it Captain Gomez's voice came from the ships intercom.

"Crew of the Da Vinci this is the captain. Whether you're on duty or not, please stop for a minute there's something I need to tell you. The Sonya paused to give everyone, including her some time to prepare for what she was about to say.

"By now you're aware of the Borg incursions happening throughout the quadrant, how countless of Starships and colonies have already succumbed to them. "I wish I could tell you it was over, I wish I could tell you that this was just another relatively small incursion of our space like we've seen before. I wish I could tell you all these things but it would be a lie. Recent intelligence from the USS enterprise and Aventine indicate that nothing less than a full scale Borg invasion is on its way. Its goal seems to be nothing less than the complete and total destruction for the federation and its allies." Another long pause, allowing the crew to come to terms with what she just said.

"I do not need to tell you the gravity of the situation, all statistical simulations suggests that this is a fight we will most likely loose, but we shall give them a fight. Starfleet is mobilizing the biggest fleet that has ever been amassed to blockade the Borg's entry into our space. President Baco is getting as many people as she can to help friend or foe. Unfortunately we are too far away to make it in time to do any good. All remaining Starships have been ordered to protect as many worlds as possible, in case… in case the blockade fails, our assignment is to protect Troyius. I need all of you to duty like I've come to expect, at a 150%. We are the miracle workers of the galaxy, the impossible just takes five minutes extra and Troyius shall stand. That is all"

Everyone around the table stayed quiet for quite a while after the speech was done, trying to come to terms with it their own way. It wasn't like they didn't know before but to hear it spoken out loud like this was a different matter. "It's a fight for our very existence" Patty mumbled.

"You have no idea" Chell responded.

Sonya was exhausted, that speech took all the energy that she had left, having spent the last sixteen hours going over briefings, Starfleet communiques and in the rare moments there was no news coming from the admiralty she spend improving upon her general Borg knowledge. However there was no rest in sight she still had a meeting with the senior crew to run in an hour. She doubted if any of it would help her, she knew that logically speaking there was no way they could win this fight. The Borg had near infinite resources and it seemed they were not going to back down this time.

"Maybe we shouldn't fight then" The most Vulcan part of her mind kept thinking, "Maybe we could flee, or perhaps hide. She knew these weren't really options, one cannot evacuate the billions of federation citizens across the federation. "Maybe then, this really is the end" she thought sadly.

An hour later Sonya was sitting in the conference room, slowly waiting for everyone to arrive, going through all her notes on a PADD. She was surprised to see Bart there already, after breaking the news to him she didn't expect him to make it, especially since there was only so much a linguist and cryptologist could do during a full scale invasion. However here he was, like always and if she didn't know him as well as she did she wouldn't be able to tell that anything was off with him. She wanted to say something, anything to make it better but she couldn't find the words. There was no time anyway, as the rest of the senior officers just arrived and it was time for the meeting.

"Thank you for making it everyone." Gomez started when everyone was taking their seats. "I hope you've managed to process the news as well could be expected but it's time to go to work." Everyone looked to their captain expectantly, waiting for her to call on them. "So we need ideas, any idea that can help us fight the Borg, so shoot."

It was Corsi of all people who first piped in. "Well we are carrying Five Mk XV phaser cannons in our cargo bay, which were supposed to be installed on starbase 234 is there any way we could use those?"

Bart visibly cringed at the mention of starbase 234, but oblivious of this Tev rebutted. "Don't be preposterous, the energy requirement would be ridiculous and we can't generate that much…"

"Well I don't know Tev." Sonya responded. "We did something similar before you joined our crew, we managed to overcome the consumption problems by tying them in to our back up generators."

This took Tev aback, he became uncharacteristically quiet and Sonya could see the possibilities going through his mind. "Yes I suppose that could work, let me think on it for a moment" he responded, for once sounding a little humble.

Sonya was pleased to see this, "he's coming along, finally" she thought. "Al right Commander Corsi and Tev work that out, any other ideas?"

"I'm tinkering with an idea that might reinforce our structural integrity field, by rerouteing our engine power through it." Patty responded. "It won't make us invulnerable but every little bit helps.

"Indeed, well done Patty, I'm here if you need me to help you setting it up, any other ideas." The room fell silent, everyone desperately wanting to come with an idea, knowing that what they had now was only going to delay the inevitable. "Come on people, anything?"

"Well I might have something…" Bart said softly" I've been trying to use linguistic algorithms to alternate our weapon and shield frequencies to make it harder for the Borg to adapt but I feel like I'm out of my depth here"

Sonya was again surprised that Bart had managed to work on anything considering the news she gave him, not to mention that it was a great idea. "That's some really good thinking Bart, maybe Soloman can help you making it a reality."

"That shouldn't be a problem." The small Bynar responded. "I'll get right on it"

"Alright people, I won't keep you any longer, get too it dismissed."

Everyone got up and started to walk to the door. "It's not going to help" came a soft mutter from the corner"

"What was that Specialist Chell?"

"With all due respect it won't matter, if the Borg are here to destroy us well…"

"We shall see, everyone dismissed, except Chell I need a word with you"

Sonya was angry at Chell's comment, but did her best not to show it to him as he stayed behind while everyone left. It was comments like these that could destroy crew morale, and this was the last thing she needed. When the last person left the room she turned to Chell. "I'd prefer you keep such opinions to yourself next time specialist"

"I was just saying what we were all thinking, captain…"

"That does not matter, we will do whatever it takes to win and we need not be reminded that we might fail. Hell you were aboard voyager, you of all people should know the Borg are not invincible."

"No captain, you're wrong." Chell responded sadly. "Being on voyager only showed me how futile resistance is in the end."

Confused Sonya responded. "Voyager fought the Borg more than anyone, and survived how can you say that?"

"Yes we fought the Borg, but we were lucky, and never faced more than one cube at the time not really anyway. We also had unusual advantages, crew members aboard the cube, virus's, future weaponry none of which we will have now. No one realises how many ships the Borg have we traveled through their space they have millions of cubes, spheres, diamonds, probes you name it, in the end there's nothing we can do to stop them by force."

Now Sonya was getting angry, not really at Chell though because she knew he was probably right but she couldn't say that. "Specialist, you are hereby ordered to stop that line of thought, and try your best to find a way to help."

"Yes captain, I'm sorry captain."

"Dismissed!"


	4. Chapter 4: Preparing to Fail

Chapter 4: Preparing to Fail

**USS Da Vinci  
Troyius Sector beta quadrant  
Stardate: 5810****5.4**

Chell walked through the ship, chastising himself for his big mouth. "Why do I always say things like that." He thought. "It always gets me in to trouble." Back on voyager it was the same for him, he never knew when to keep his mouth shut and it got him in to trouble, especially in the earlier parts of the journey. He though he had gotten over it, he managed to find a place on voyager where he fit in and people respected him, even despite his quirks. Even Tuvok had become friendlier towards him, well he no longer asked him to run laps around cargo bays which was probably as close as Tuvok would get to being friendly but no his mouth had done it again and he didn't know how he was going to get out of it this time. "If we survive this surely the captain will boot me of the ship soon, and then what will I do?"

While deep in thought he almost literally bumped in to P8 blue, who was wearing several very heavy looking pieces of equipment in in three of her arms, making her stumble.

"I'm sorry specialist." He said. 'I should have paid attention to where I was going, here let me help you with that."

It's okay Chell, and I told you it's Pattie, we are all deep in thought I think Chell don't worry about it."

"I'm so stupid… sorry Pattie, wait where are you going with all that equipment anyway?"

"Again you worry too much Chell." Pattie responded with her characteristic chuckle. "I'm heading towards airlock 4 doing an EVA to modify our hull as we discussed, and maybe help with the cannon installation afterward." She continued while looking at the uncomfortable looking Chell. "You have EVA experience don't you?"

"Yes I do, well not an incredible amount but I manage."

"Care to join me, it would make the work go a lot faster and I can certainly use the company, and it would certainly distract you a bit she continued silently."

"Are you sure, wouldn't you rather have someone else with you?"

"You'll do fine Chell, I'm sure of it." Pattie replied as they made their way to the airlock.

Corsi and Tev where hard at work on figuring out the specifics on adapting Starbase size cannons for starship use, and a starship not designed for cannons as well. Usually engineering wasn't Corsi's forte but she happened to know something about making big cannons work and it was her idea after all.

"No all of this won't work!" Tev complained "There's no way we can generate enough energy to power all eight of these cannons."

"Who said we need all eight." Corsi responded. "I just need to know how much you can give me."

"Three on full power, we could install more but the effectiveness would drop of."

"No three will do, we don't want to lose power by over stretching the system." Tev was a bit taken aback by the seemingly new found engineering expertise in his commanding officer, and apparently it showed because Corsi quickly added. "Hey I know guns, and you don't spend as much time with you engineers as I have without picking up some tricks."

"it seems so, now where should we place these, I would suggest two fore, and one aft would be an ideal…"

"No on a ship as manoeuvrable as Da Vinci you don't want to waste such a powerful weapon on the rear, we'll put them in the front, two on either side of the saucer, maybe near the shuttle bay to make installation easier and one on the ventral of the secondary hull to give full coverage."

"Alright." Said Tev, slightly taken aback at Corsi's decisiveness, being used to usually being right on everything. "I guess that is a better option, I shall trust your expertise in the matter."

"Wow." Thought Corsi. "He really has come a long way." Then out loud she said: "good lieutenant now let's get working on this we don't have all day."

"Yes of course commander, but may I ask you a question first?" now it was Corsi's turn to be taken aback Tev's voice had none of the usual superior attitude in it associated with the rather self-absorbed Tellarite.

"I believe you just did." Corsi quipped but after getting nothing but a puzzled look for the old joke, she continued. "Never mind Tev ask away."

"Well, in your opinion as a security expert and tactician, do we well…"

"Stand a chance?" Corsi finished for him. "Honestly I don't know, logically Chell is right, and we stand no chance but we have faced many no win situations before and survived, and so has Chell so who knows."

"But if that's the case maybe we need to change tactics, find a different solution."

"Like what Tev? There is no solution people smarter than us have looked for one for decades, and even if we don't stand a chance what's the difference, we are still going to fight, to the bitter end if need be to protect what we stand for."

"You're right of course commander, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"Don't worry about it, we 're all worried now let's get back to work."

Bart and Soloman were walking to the computer lab, on their way to work on the shield frequency rotation algorithms.

"Could you try and explain your idea a little bit further Bart?" Soloman asked.

"Well the basic idea is from an old form of coding called a book cipher." Bart answered, glad he had something to distract him from where his mind actually was. "Where you'd use a written text to develop a code to write your messages in. Without the exact text there's no way to break it. Back in the day they would use a single passage to encode the message but with current computing we could use entire works of literature to encode a sequence."

"That sounds interesting, but where do the linguistic algorithms come in?"

"Well the Borg really know their coding as you know, so I wondered what would happen if you run the text in question through the universal translator several times, from for example English to Klingon to Rihannsu and so on. I can't think of a better way to randomise something which is already pretty random."

"That's a very innovative idea Bart, and it doesn't surprise me that it took a linguist to think of it.

"So do you think you can make it work?"

"I don't see why not, do you have any specific text in mind?"

"I was thinking." Bart answered choking up a little. I was thinking The Lord of the Rings, Anthony introduced me to that book, he… he used to love it." He continued hardly holding back the tears he desperately didn't want the Bynar to see.

"Bart are you al right, wait did you say used to love?" Soloman replied slightly confused at the sudden change in Bart's demeanour.

Bart couldn't hold it back much longer "Anthony died Soloman." He said. "His ship was destroyed defending Starbase 234."

Soloman was at a loss for words, he knew how much his friend cared for his former mate, even if they had been apart for several years now. He knew what Bart was going through, having himself lost his mate 111, the one who made him whole a long time ago. Finally he managed to say: "I am so sorry bart, is there anything I can..."

"Thank you Soloman" Bart interrupted him. "There isn't, many more people will die this day and neither Anthony or I are more important, we have a job to do."

"He was more important to you Bart." Soloman thought, but decided not to say as they continued on their way.

Sonya was crawling through a jefferies tube, busy rerouteing some power couplings to aid Pattie's plan to reinforce the structural integrity field. She was all by herself, it was a one man job of course but at these times she really felt the loneliness of command. With the more lacks standers of the ship and the close bond she had developed with her crew mates it usually wasn't that obvious but now alone in a jefferies tube of the ship she commanded which was headed towards war it really hit her. Most captains wouldn't have done this kind of dirty work themselves, but then again Sonya Gomez was not just any captain. Back in the days before she was promoted the Da Vinci was a regular Starfleet ship, used to ferry the SCE team around from assignment to assignment. This however caused some conflict of interest which was abused by a federation ambassador Gabriel Marshal years ago putting Sonya in an impossible situation. Luckily Captains Gold and Scott had realised this and when it became time for Gold to retire they decided it was time to change things up.

The Da Vinci would become a ship permanently assigned to the star fleet corps of engineers, with Sonya in full command of both the SCE team and the ship itself. Sonya's lack of regular command training would be counter balanced by making Corsi her first officer and stand in captain for when Sonya was busy with SCE assignments. This way the corps had a much clearer chain of command and would hopefully avoid unfortunate incidents like the Rhaax incident. The really surprising things is that it worked, the ship run fine and even though it was pretty strange to be the only starship captain to wear a gold uniform in the entire fleet. SO far it had been going so well that before the invasion started Scotty was supposedly in talks to extend the system to more SCE ships when it was time for their current captains to move on.

Right now though this was little help to Sonya, all alone hard at work, with nop one to talk to about her fears, and doubts.

Despite the seriousness of the situation Chell was pretty exited, while he was suiting up he had been overly modest to Pattie earlier. He didn't just have some EVA experience, he was pretty damn good at it and he knew it, Chell rarely felt comfortable or like he had a skill that outmatched his crew mates but this was one place he knew he shone. He had always been comfortable floating in a space suit, enjoying the freedom. The last time he had done any extra vehicular activity was just before Voyager made it home, installing the ablative armour generators to Voyager's hull.

As he finished suiting up Pattie walked in seemingly not concerned about getting suited up herself.

"Are you ready Chell?"

"Yes ma'am, ready to go when you are."

"I told you it's Pattie, well the equipment is already in the airlock so let's go shall we?"

"Okay, but um Pattie shouldn't you suit up to?"

"I am Nasat Chell my people don't need those cumbersome suits, I can stay out in the vacuum for several hours before I need to breath, and than this will do" she said pointing at a mask like device on her equipment belt.

"Oh, sorry I knew that, I must have forgotten." Chell responded apologetically.

"Don't worry about it, lets go."

Soloman was worried about his friend, he could see Bart at work on the linguistic algorithms seeming not having anything else on his mind. Soloman however knew better, he could see the pain in his eyes, and remember the hurt in his voice. He wished he could help his friend, but Bart had always been a private person in many ways. Soloman knew the pain his friend was going through better than most, and knew that there was very little comfort he could offer Bart but he decided to try anyway.

"Bart if you want to talk about it you know I am here right?"

"Soloman it's not like I don't appreciate it but I really have no right to your pity, this is not like what happened to you and 111." This confused Soloman, and for a moment he didn't know how to respond, how was it different he wondered, Bart clearly loved Anthony.

"What do you mean Bart?"he finally said."How is it so different, you loved Anthony and clearly still did."

"Of course I still loved him, but I ruined it, pushed him away. I couldn't be enough for him, I was to selfish and ruined the best relationship I have ever had!" Bart didn't seem sad any more he seemed mad, mad at himself.

"It's not your fault Bart, not that you pushed him away and certainly not that he died."

"You just don't understand Soloman, it's..."Bart was interrupted by an incoming message. After quickly checking the sender he shouted.

"It's Anthony!" Soloman saw his friend's excitement only to see it disappear when Bart saw the time stamp on the message.

"it's from before the battle." Bart said sadly slumping back in his chair crestfallen.

"You should read it Bart, you never know what it says he might have been off the ship at the time for some reason and even if he wasn't you should hear what he had to say."Bart seemed to consider this for a while, eventually opening the message. Soloman could see the tears start coming from Bart's eyes as he was reading the message, eventually ending up in all out crying. In a very weak voice Bart muttered.

"He was going to forgive me, he would have taken me back."

"I am so sorry Bart." Soloman muttered not knowing what else to say.

"It's okay Soloman, thank you for getting me to read it, I needed that." Bart answered softly. "We have work to do though and we should get back to it" he continued clearly having found some comfort in the letter.

Chell was amazed to see Pattie skittering around the ship's hull, seemingly not even bothered by the change in environment.

"And I thought I was good at EVAs' he thought to himself. "What a fool I was." they were making their way to the shuttle bay, having just finished the modification on the structural integrity field nodes. In the bay Commander Corsi and Tev would be waiting with the phaser cannons to be installed on either side of the bay. They already installed the ventral cannon when they were there for the ventral node. Normally they would probably have used one of the worker bees to install the cannons however that was not really an option while the ship was at warp. Chell felt so slow using his suit's thrusters to move compared to the lightning quick Nasat skittering across the hull.

"Are you alright their Chell?" he heard Pattie say through his helmet's com."

"Yes patty, I just need to make sure not to stray to far from the hull, you could go ahead if you want."Chell responded not wanting to slow Pattie down.

"No it is all right Chell, I will wait for you, I can't do much there without you anyway." Pattie said cheerfully, not really realising the inferiority Chell was feeling. "We are almost there anyway.

Moving on they saw Corsi had already opened the doors and was standing in the shuttle bay next to the two cannons waving at them, they went through the forcefield and started pushing one of the cannons out in to the vacuum from here on it was an easy process to install the cannons to the previously prepared power couplings, and ion weld them in to place. It took about half an hour for both of them to be installed, when done they headed back through the shuttle bay to re-enter the ship. Pattie was moving to Chell to help him remove his helmet, but she quickly saw he didn't need the help. They were all alone in the bay, Corsi had moved on to another duty a while back.

"Thank you Chell, you did a great job: I couldn't have done this anywhere near this fast on my own."

"You're kidding right?"Chell answered confused.

"What do you mean?" Pattie answered even more confused.

"I was only holding you back!" Chell answered agitatedly. "The one thing I can do well and you just blew me out of the water in it." Pattie finally understood the origin of Chell's frustration, sometimes humanoids still confused her.

"You were of great help Chell, there's more to EVA work than just getting from A to B and you can't help being a humanoid and needing the help of a cumbersome suit. If you want the truth here it is, I don't think I know any other humanoid on this ship who could have helped me as well as you just did. I meant what I said Chell."

Not really knowing how to respond to such praise Chell muttered a simple "Thank you." but this was the first time he started feeling like a true member of the Da Vinci crew.


End file.
